Editor's comment: The authors applied a simplified SARP algorithm to a diverse population of adult asthmatics recruited from the urban area of New York City. In doing so, they identified five distinct phenotypic groups similar to those originally described using the more detailed SARP algorithm. They concluded that these results support the use of the simplified SARP algorithm for classification of asthma phenotypes in future prospective studies designed to investigate treatment and outcome differences between these distinct groups.

2. Evidence confirming the therapeutic efficacy of systemic and targeted therapies in eosinophilic, high TH2 asthma

Editor's comment: This is an excellent comprehensive review of our current knowledge of the clinical and genetic heterogeneity of asthma. It discusses emerging phenotypes and subtypes, biomarker diagnostics, and the potential response to targeted therapy in well-characterized asthma phenotypes.

3. Tryptase would not be an optimal marker for the diagnosis of anaphylaxis

Editor's comment: The authors conducted an observational prospective study of cases of anaphylaxis by measuring sequential serum tryptase concentrations during anaphylactic events in order to evaluate the potential of serial determinations as a diagnostic marker. They concluded that tryptase is not an optimal marker for the diagnosis of anaphylaxis, since although the concentration of tryptase correlates with severity; levels are not increased in a considerable number of patients during acute anaphylaxis.

4. Complement activation in patients with urticaria and angioedema and autoimmune thyroid disease

Kirkpatrick CH. A mechanism for urticaria/angioedema in patients with thyroid disease. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 2012;130(4): 988-990. doi:10.1016/j.jaci.2012.05.017

Editor's comment: The author proposes that activation of complement by the complement controller domain of thyroperoxidase is an important contributor to the development of urticaria and angioedema in patients with thyroid autoimmunity and might be an amplification process responsible for a prolonged duration of symptoms.

Editor's comment: The authors test if population-based cohorts with self-reported physician-diagnosed asthma and genome-wide association (GWA) data could be used to validate known associations with asthma and identify novel associations. They also present the first comprehensive search for genetic interactions with smoking status and hay fever. Finally, they provide evidence for several new genome-wide significant associations with asthma: one novel signal where there was prior suggestive evidence of association (RORA), one independent novel signal at a previously associated locus (the HLA region), and one previously associated locus with multiple independent signals (IL1RL1/IL18R1).

Editor's comment: In a follow up clinical study the authors found that causes of perianal dermatitis in infants included CMA, bacterial dermatitis, moniliasis, enterobiasis and lactose intolerance. The presence of bloody and/or mucoid stools, other atopic manifestations, anal fissures, or recurrent vomiting, are associated with CMA as an etiology.

8. Allergen-specific immunotherapy (ASIT) with aluminium-precipitated antigen extract was not shown to be a risk factor for contact allergy to aluminium

Editor's comment: The main aim of this study was to investigate whether ASIT with allergen preparations containing aluminium hydroxide would induce contact allergy to aluminium: the authors found a high proportion of contact allergy to aluminium in atopic patients with allergic rhinitis and asthma, but it did not demonstrate nor exclude that ASIT is a risk factor for induction of aluminium allergy.

Editor's comment: The authors screened for the DB phenotype in adults with asthma using the Nijmegen questionnaire and confirmed the presence of DB by progressive exercise testing. They found that independent risk factors for DB were psychopathology, the frequent exacerbator asthma phenotype and uncontrolled asthma. Asthma medication (ICS, LABA or LTRA) had no significant relation with dysfunctional breathing. Finally, they suggest that DB should be evaluated in asthma patients presenting with psychopathology, frequent severe asthma exacerbations or uncontrolled asthma.

10. Factors determining the health-related quality of life in patients with asthma according to the EuroQol-5D questionnaire

Editor's comment: The authors found that advanced age, lower educational level and poor control of asthma showed a considerable detrimental effect on the HRQoL of asthmatics and were significantly associated with a worse quality of life in all the dimensions assessed by the EQ-5D scale. The baseline severity of asthma and being admitted to the hospital were related to a worse quality of life in 5 of the 6 dimensions analyzed.

11. The relationship between asthma and obesity in epidemiological studies depends on the definition adopted

Editor's comment: This cross-sectional study investigated the influence of the definition of asthma employed on the asthma-obesity association. It added evidence to the asthma-obesity relationship because the authors tested this association with two definitions: bronchial hyperresponsiveness-confirmed asthma and physician-diagnosed asthma. They concluded that further studies are necessary to establish the diagnosis of asthma that is truly associated with obesity.

Editor's comment: The authors concluded that the bitter taste receptor, T2R38, genotype regulates mucosal respiratory innate defense. Their data suggest that T2R38 is an upper airway sentinel in innate defense and that genetic variation contributes to individual differences in susceptibility to respiratory infection. These data provide motivation to conduct a clinical trial to prospectively define the clinical course of patients with various T2R38 genotypes.